L’Oréal Dark Sides of Grey Nail Swatches & Review
L’Oreal Dark Sides of Grey
Maybe it’s the Fifty Shades phenomenon, maybe it’s just that grey polish kicks ass. Either way, it’s a trending color right now and L’Oreal Paris has jumped on the bandwagon with the L’Oreal Dark Sides of Grey collection.
These eight, new, limited edition L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche Nail shades are not just a celebration of the many shades of grey, they also show off a diverse array of finishes and textures. Everything from satin to shimmer to matte and texture. Check it!
Formula & Application
L’Oreal Paris Colour Riche Nail is 5-Free (Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP, Formaldehyde Resin, Camphor). It comes in a weighty, rectangular glass bottle topped with a plastic cap with a brushed metal finish. The flat brush is medium in width and length with a curved tip and flexible bristles.
Note: Some of my brushes were cut oddly so they didn’t create as smooth of a curve at the cuticle.
While all of these polishes have different finishes, they all apply rather smoothly and give full coverage in two coats, with the exception of the scattered holo Masked Affair.
L’Oreal Aux Chandelles is a pale dove creme that dries with a satin finish. It’s actually more waxy than satin the more I look at it. Top coat makes it more glossy in person. On camera, the difference doesn’t translate as well.
L’Oreal Aux Chandelles swatch – Satin
L’Oreal Aux Chandelles with top coat
L’Oreal Bad Bad Grey is a sparkly texture along the lines of the original Zoya Pixies. It has a blackened base with a hint of berry, filled with silver and charcoal glitters. It’s not as sparkly as the Pixies, in spite of the amount of silvery shimmer you see in the bottle.
L’Oreal Bad Bad Grey – Texture
L’Oreal Caution Please is a silver foil texture. Remember those metallic textures that China Glaze tried to make happen? This is the same concept, only L’Oreal got it right. It doesn’t look like a transistor board. It’s more like stucco, spray-painted silver, that’s been hit by the glitter fairy.
L’Oreal Caution Please
L’Oreal Grey Corset is a dark blue-grey that dries flat matte. This is the only one that has leveling issues. While that doesn’t show as much when worn on its own, adding a top coat highlights the uneven finish.
L’Oreal Grey Corset
L’Oreal Grey Corset with top coat
L’Oreal Masked Affair is lavender-tinged grey with scattered holographic shimmer. That’s right, a L’Oreal holo! It has already created a huge buzz online so I would go RIGHT NOW to get it. This one is a bit sheer, but opaque in three coats.
L’Oreal Masked Affair
L’Oreal Miss Grey is a graphite hue with silver and champagne gold shimmer. If you have L’Oreal Stroke of Midnight, it’s more blue-based and more sheer than Miss Grey. Note: It has to be applied thin to manage the potential brush mark issue but it’s so worth the effort. Application tip: Paint the sides first and finish down the middle to avoid streaks.
L’Oreal Miss Grey
L’Oreal Power Potion is an inky, charcoal shimmer. It dries a lot darker than it looks in the bottle, teetering on the edge of black.
L’Oreal Power Potion
L’Oreal Totally d’Accord is a navy texture, leaning towards teal with a dark slate backdrop. Unlike Bad Bad Grey, it doesn’t dry matte. It’s more jelly-ish looking. For that reason, I think it looks best with a Gelous/Top Coat sandwich. To elaborate, I use Gelous as a spackle layer and add a thick top coat (HK Girl) to get it as close to smooth as possible. It’s still a little bumpy but not gritty.
L’Oreal Totally d’Accord swatch
L’Oreal Totally d’Accord with top coat
L’Oreal Dark Sides of Grey swatches
Bottom Line: Grey is one of those colors I always come back to. I’m over it and then I’m all about it. Right now, I’m all about it and so many of these polishes are hitting the spot. Masked Affair is a MUST, Totally d’Accord a close second, and Miss Grey takes the bronze. The only shades I would label a pass are, Grey Corset for its inability to self-level, and Bad Bad Grey for not bringing enough sparkle to the nail.
The L’Oreal Dark Sides of Grey collection is available now, for a limited time, in drugstores and mass retailers. L’Oreal Colour Riche Nail retails for $5.99/ea. For more info, visit LOrealParisUSA.com.
Thoughts on all these new greys? Have you spotted this collection near you? Which ones do you plan to hunt down? And, am I alone or should L’Oreal offer their LE polishes online? Or at least put more bottles on the display.
Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for L’Oreal. Affiliate links may appear in this post. When you purchase through an affiliate link, you help support this site. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
I better get looking for these. I for sure want the last four.
Love grey!
I’m so glad to see your review and swatches for this collection! I’ve been waiting
I actually scoured my city for Masked Affair and I’m happy to say I finally found a bottle at a Walgreens just a couple of days ago! I got so lucky because it was the only one and it wasn’t even on the display anymore.
I agree! L’Oreal has definitely upped their game! They should sell their polish online. I was fortunate enough to find the last bottle of Masked Affair at my local Walgreens. I also picked up Caution Please and Grey Corset. Caution Please looked so different on me! Not silver at all. LOL It actually looked much darker, sort of like a gunmetal. Weird! I was not a fan of the bumpy textured finish. Oh well! Masked Affair is def the gold metal winner here! Thanks for these wonderful swatches Michelle.
Very nice! Just love that holo.
Thanks for the fab swatching, as always! Ooh… hits and misses I think – but what hits! ‘Power Potion’ and ‘Caution Please’ caught my eye straight away, but that was until I saw ‘Masked Affair’ – I positively drooled over it’s utter gorgeousness! And so, it *will* be mine…
Tricia x
I saw these at Rite Aid and wanted to buy a textured one. But the bottles dont tell you if they are textured or not and its hard to tell… so i figured I’d check back later after reading blog reviews. That holo looked tempting too!
I suddenly have to go to the drugstore! Those three are lovely!
Masked Affair is gorgeous. I need this badly!
In love with Grey Corset, and Caution Please is pretty incredible, too!
Is it just me, or has L’Oreal made OPI and its licensed 50 Shades collection look like chumps? (Also, I laughed for quite awhile when I saw pictures of that OPI collection–because it had a red in it. Not every collection needs a red.)
Not many of these left in the wild, but I just found Masked Affair at a store this past Monday. The display had just one left. I couldn’t believe it and was so excited. Love the hunt!
I might have to order some of those :p So much for trying to keep a budget
Wow, I love almost all of these, but especially Aux Chandelles and Totally D’Accord. I can skip Grey Corset. Thanks for the swatches!
These are all so fun, and the first time I have noticed this many varied finishes in one collection.
wow i love this collection!
L’Oreal just need to release the collections outside of the US and a few chosen European ones – these are lovely!
These are gorgeous but I can’t find them anywhere
I finally found Masked Affair! I didn’t have time to look up the rest and consider, but I will go back to do that. Great swatches and pix!
I actually liked the China Glaze Crinkle Chromes. At least for the clearance price I got mine at. But Caution Please does look even better! I can tell it’s gonna be my must-have of the bunch.
Masked Affair has been impossible to get my greedy little hands on thus far!! Where have you heard of people being lucky at?
I think it flew off the shelves as soon as it popped up in stores. I know people on the west coast were finding it in December and early January. I saw a display at Bed, Bath & Beyond/Harmon but nowhere else. I think eBay is going to be the only source.
I just discovered that Masked Affair isn’t being released in Australia! ! Picked up the pale grey -marketed as wax finish here, but didn’t grab any of the others.
And why in heaven am I the first commenter on these lovely swatches??
Not into the book/film but LOVE these polishes. thanks for swatching!
Because I’m way behind in approving comments and was hit with a TON of spam comments. I’m getting there.
I had to drive a couple hours to find a store with this display, because I was looking for masked affair. Since I knew I wouldn’t be making the drive again, I decided to check online for swatches of other polishes in the collection. I came across this page, and you helped me decide on what other polishes I wanted to get from this collection. (I ended up getting caution please, totally d’accord, and miss grey as well as the bottle of masked affair that someone was holding for me.) This post was very helpful for me. Thank you for posting such amazing swatches!
You’re so welcome. Glad I could help. Enjoy your new goodies.
I’ve only seen this display at two stores (with Masked Affair sold out in each). Rather frustrating. Totally d’Accord is a great color as well, but not particularly grey, is it?
You’re right, it’s more blue, than grey.
I have looked everywhere for Masked Affair, can not find it. Could you tell me where you found it?
Hi Ruth! I received it as a sample from the brand’s reps. I saw the display at my Bed, Bath and Beyond but it was wiped clear of Masked Affair already. I wish it was easier to locate. I have a feeling eBay is going to be the only resource.
I found Miss Grey and Masked
Afair at Rite-Aid– Masked Affair is stare-at-my-nails gorgeous, smooth as butter, but neutral enough I think it is work appropriate for my office. Thanks for the recommendations! With some luck hopefully I can find Totally d’Accord.
I bought Grey Corset (matte finish), thinking it would be a great go-to color, especially transitioning into Fall and Winter. I love the color, but it’s the worst-wearing polish I have ever purchased. I have even applied a base coat, 2 coats of grey, and 2 top coats…but it wears and chips the very next day. I think I’ll stick to Essie or OPI from now on.